Creating Local Peace Committee: A Participatory Action Research Project in Ojoo

Abstract

The human society has experienced one form of violence or the other, and there have been efforts at various times and various communities to prevent violence and build peace. A nonviolent conflict intervention approach has gained popularity in recent years, but for most states, the popular approach has been the use of force expressed in the deployment of security agents and their actions in conflict interventions; at best, that often results is negative peace. For an effective conflict intervention and transformation, an approach whose outcome is positive peace is desired. This is where infrastructures for peace such as a local peace committee come to play. It is a cotton-edged approach to conflict intervention and largely defines a bottom-top configuration which often brings to fore the role of insiders cum locals as well as harnesses local resources to promote social change for peace in local communities and society at large. This study explores the idea of a local peace committee, adopts a participatory action research design to build such peace infrastructure and promotes the concepts of such local peace structure in the study area.

Key Words: Local Peace Committee, Conflict Resolution, Participatory Action Research Project